Newer residential homes with basements often have one or more built-in sump pits, which are holes designed to collect water that has accumulated around the home's foundation. Sump pumps are typically installed in the sump pits to remove any accumulated water. Such sump pumps are usually powered through the home's electrical system. Since power outages can occur as a result of heavy storms, when sump pumps are needed the most, many homes are also equipped with a secondary, battery-operated, back-up sump pump. The back-up sump pump is typically powered by a conventional 12-volt battery, such as a lead-acid car battery. The back-up battery is often connected to a trickle-charge battery charger in order to ensure the battery is charged when it is needed.
FIG. 1 shows a common installation of a primary sump pump 10 in a sump pit 12. When installing the primary sump pump 10, a check valve 14 is often installed downstream from a discharge 16 of the primary sump pump 10 to prevent flow of the water back into the sump pit 12. In the configuration of FIG. 1, a back-up sump pump would be installed such that the discharge of the back-up sump pump would “T” into a pipe 18, between the discharge 16 and the upper surface of the sump pit 12. In such a configuration, if the back-up sump pump were to turn on, the natural flow of water from the discharge 16 of the back-up sump pump would be down through the primary sump pump 10 and back into the sump pit 12 (i.e., the path of least resistance). Therefore, in conventional back-up sump pump installations, an installer must cut the pipe 18, pull the pipe 18 and the primary sump pump 10 out of the sump pit 12, and make sure there is a check valve at the discharge 16. If there is no check valve at the discharge 16 (e.g., because the check valve 14 was installed outside of the pit, as shown in FIG. 1), the installer must obtain another check valve, remove the pipe 18 from the primary pump 10, install the new check valve at the discharge 16, re-cut the pipe 18 to a suitable length, and glue/attach the pipe 18 to the new check valve.
In addition, once the back-up sump pump, the back-up battery, and the battery charger are installed, the back-up battery cannot be conveniently removed as such batteries are typically heavy and awkward to carry.